I loaded my observation hive yesterday. I purchased 1 frame of B's from a local apiary, for my two frame hive. Getting them in there was a bit of work, but I did it. There were a few yard sales in my neighborhood, and I stopped some traffic walking around in my B suit.

I worked them right outside the entrance that is in the wall. When I had no B's on the hive and most of them in the hive I put it in the house. within minutes the stragglers that were still outside the house found their path in.

The first day was pretty much reerved for hive cleaning by the bees. There were a couple of larva that didn't survive the trip in the car, especially when the box tipped over.... And once things got settled there were a lot outside taking the flights to study the entrance.

Later the first night I saw the queen laying eggs and watched two bees emerge from their cells. :) One thing that I thin is pretty cool is that once they take some feed from the sugar syrup at the top of the hive - to get pack down, they do a controlled fall/small flying trick -- rather than walk down the foundation. Most of the bees are settling on the botttom frame full of brood. The top frame only has foundation.

Today, I saw them bringing back pollen and watched them do a B dance. :)

That does sound like fun. Makes me want one. I've been seriously thinking of talking to the schools next year and seeing if I could do a presentation.I think I'll study up tonight on observation hives. I've got so many questions. :)

Your right.. observation hives are great fun and very educational. We built one and had it in the family room on the corner table. It was four standard frames tall, with a tube through the wall. The local junior high school took it for the science class when I moved away.

As handy as you are Beth, you could build one easily, in an afternoon or two. Then just move a frame of bees and brood into it, and watch them raise a queen, watch her begin egg laying and away you go. Just remember to incorporate a way to feed them into your design.

I started doing some reading tonight on it, and yes, I could build this. I've got some worries though. I don't think my husband will let me cut a hole in the wall so I can have it inside. So I'd probably want to make it where it sits in a window (on the afternoon shady side), and have some sort of special blocker at the bottom of the window where the entrance would slip right in. I was reading though that the bees get pretty upset and restless when closed up where they can't fly. Well then how do you take it places to show off? The articles I read made it sound like they close it for the travel, but open it back up once set up on location (fairs, outdoor shows). But the bees could deal with it while visiting at a school right? An hour or two trapped up wouldn't freak them out too much would it?

Our obxervation hive was stationary, so it was only closed up ... well heck.. it was never closed up... when I had to work on it, we opened a window and the family evacuated the area!! bahahahaha

I would guess something like your talking about, you would want to keep it from overheating as a prime consideration. Maybe something that has the frames horizontally but opens like a book.. otherwise, seeing the queen and things might be a little tough. I think I saw a design like that somewhere on the web.. I just can't remember where. John probably can help you out since he has done alot of demonstrations before.

I once kept an observational hive here in Florida. They're awsome. Everyday I'd stay awake through the night and stare through the glass with a red flashlight. What was realy cool was that I saw the dances and could determine the direction. Once I got to where I thought the dance was refering to I'd mark a few bees to see if I was right. Usually, at least one bee would be marked when it returned to the hive.